Coffs 2010

[CheekyD1]

Good Evening Viewers and welcome to the Cheeky Report Coffs 2010 – Special Edition - Part 1
Once again Coffs Harbour lived up to its reputation of being one of Australia’s Best 4WD area!!!
We left BP Chinderah BP on time arriving at Shane’s place around Lunch, Shane was visibly impressed with the caliber of Rovers that arrived in convoy.
Settling into Shane’s fantastic camping area, We were off into the nearby bush about 2pm.
5 minutes across the creek and a couple of warm up hills we, OK I, no take that back, Cheeky had a go at John’s Hill (We were told that it would be impassable) so naturally Cheeky wanted to try.
Up, Up …… Not up, Hold…… Down we went. When Cheeky stopped sliding I looked out to see Kelvin Face first in the bush. Having dived off the track to avoid being run over!

So expectation were lowered we headed up to the tower to look at the Steep behind the tower itself. Being raining at the time we set up a winch point and headed down and around to the bottom to have a go.
All cars got up only Kelvin doing it without winch assistance.
Back to Camp for a quite ale and tea, during dinner we received text updates from our local guides who decided to come to camp via the Eagle Nest (one of the harder tracks at Coffs – and that’s saying something)

Day 2
Our Coffs Guides arrived early and we were off to Mt Coramba.
We were shown a short way over the mountain,
The weather and track conditions were challenging to say the least.


We then had a play in the Creek


Off to Dump Hill, which gave a good challenge



There was a little bit of opps and a CV issue

All hands on deck



To be continued….
Including Jeep Hill, Widowmaker and the Nocturnal activities.

Latter
Gaz

[disco_thrasher]

this was a trip i have looked fwd to for 2 years as last year i had diff problems a week before due to ormeau creeks ,and there was no way i was going to miss out this year .
It was a great crew who went down all with the trucks who can handle the holy **** stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1


i was all packed by the 7;30pm on thurs night and kept on saying to myself i have forgoten something went through food/camping/ spares list and was all there ....woke up twice during the night thinking i had forgoten something and stil nothing got to BP still thinking i had forgoten something and by the time i was at grafton .... i worked it out .................................................. ..........CAMERA bugger

oh well


hat goes off to Gaz for sorting out the camp spot ...what a awesome spot
even tho there was a bit of rain we still did big tracks some where totaly impassible due to clay and rain and months of heavy rain making big hill climbs totally washed out ...
Having the local guides was a huge plus to the weekend due to there vast knowlege of the tracks that could be attacked in the rain and believe me all gave it a crack with success and defeat ..
the rest i will leave to the ones with pictures

Once again BIG thanks to Sando and Tim for the guide around the Coffs rain forests AWESOME track guides
looking fwd to the rest of Gaz /Tims and Keiths photos i wil also leave it to Gaz to tell the story of the great recovery and winch chalenge which was had early on sunday morning due to sat nights shananigans by his JEEP mate Wanye?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and all good that the gold cost members all survided COFFS without any breakages well done all and this is all due to great quality trucks trip prep and good driving
and a thanks goes out to the leaches which sucked us all dry

cheers kelvin

and camera is now placed under my seat for good

[Skiboy]

Thanks to Gaz and helpers/contacts for a great trip esp the camp location - top spot



It was wet and on the first track Sat Gaz got up but only with winching - too slippery for anyone else to go so had to duck around



We did a creek run



Fixed CVs and tyres off the rim



Wops don't show this dent to josh - hit the tree trying to miss the tree - will need the hammer out tomorrow


And as Kelvin said we ran the leaches (in the lantana they were jumping onto the cars I reckon)



Sat am there was a fight over between Kelvin and Justin over who was going to have Gaz after we recovered him from trying to recover the Jeep off the track


Kelvin waited in the bushes


Then he pounced at the right moment


And the GAZ was his to drag home - he must have thought GAZ meant Gazelle and he was having fresh steak on the BBQ for dinner


Seriously it took a team effort to get Gaz up the hill and then turn the Jeep around on the track and snatched back up the hill - was very slippery. I had to back the Orange Rangie down to snatch him up.


Sat Kelvin had a go at a track climbing the bank but tail dragged


Then we convoyed home - was a good trip not too hot but some tracks not 'doable' due to wet - sure glad I put the 117 Extremes on though!
Auto played up a little so lucky we did not try to drive the 4.5 hrs there. I think the Auto oil pump is not working properly as it is fine down hill and when revving (ie was fine when running 60kmph in low) but heats going up hill or in high range - over 130 and sometimes to 140 Deg. Next job to fix after photo shoot.

More pics to come but need to sleep now.

[disco_thrasher]

Sat am there was a fight over between Kelvin and Justin over who was going to have Gaz after we recovered him from trying to recover the Jeep off the track

It was gruesome

what the hell was i doing there funny tho

[CheekyD1]

Welcome back viewers to Part 2 of the Cheeky Report – Coffs 2010 edition
When we left our crew, we (Actually Justin) had just removed a Cv from the front of our Coffs Guide’s Fender. (Fender / County they all look alike to me)
So what to do now?
Pub for lunch was the natural thing for any Land Rover owner who had just preformed a CVectomy
So it was off to Coramba via a “Look” at Commando. (Has not gotten any easier…..! )
After a quick bite to eat and a round table about what to attack next, it was decided that Wooli would be the best shot for some FUN,
Having regard to the damp nature of the hills, the soil (more rock less clay) at Wolli was considered best.
I was expecting the 3 wheel fender to head home, but no these Coffs blokes are made of sterner stuff, our guides were on a 2wd mission.
Arriving at Jeep Hill, we found the Creek washed out, about 5 meters of washout..
Never mind we will just have to drive down from the top then climb back up
Cheeky was a bit scared and waited (shaking in her KM2’s) while the others worked out a good route.


Climbing back up I was impressed with the KM2’s. Reviews I had read, said they were good on rock and that proved the case.

Tim drove up nicely


Justin cruised up


Kelvin fresh from his victory on the Tower the night before went an “extra credit line” which proved a “little tricky”


Backing out was even more tricky




Justin jumped in to guide, keeping others out of trouble.



Well most others, Trav logs some more "Air Time"


Not to be out done Philippe also logs some big Air


How was that ride Eve?
Just talk to the hand


Oh Well at least the kids liked it


Back to camp via a “Look” at Widowmaker, did I mention that a Disco was the only truck to do the Tower without a winch….?
Probably explains why Kelvin was keen to have a look,


Other were not so keen


Before I go for now,
I must do some thank you’s
In no particular order
Justin for providing wisdom all weekend, great knowledge of what can be done and what is silly to try, kept us safe and in no small part sent us all home undamaged.
Tim for organizing the locals, made for a great weekend being taken quickly to stuff which was fun, meant we got through much more than we would on our own.
Kelvin for getting his Disco up the tower and for pitching in with winching duties
Keith for snatching my wayward friend after his night navigation error (more on that to come)
Trav for making great V8 noises
Philippe for making the most air during the weekend.
Thanks to all our Coffs friends for the guidance
Shane if you get to read this, thanks for letting us use your place, Love your work.

Thanks to anybody I missed, another super successful GCLRO trip.

Coming up soon a special edition of the Cheeky Report, What happened in the dark Saturday night???
Stay tuned
Gaz

[Skiboy]

It was gruesome

what the hell was i doing there funny tho

As I said I thought I had a couple of good ones of the recovery - but did not know about this one till I down loaded - you two frame the picture well I thought!
Funny sometimes the picture become the background for a great foreground that becomes the picture.

[DRanged]

Well where to start

The Leary's also forgot the camera, for that we are sorry.

Was great to get away but I was a bit knackered for most of the weekend and the "all in Jeep winch recovery finished me off ".

Phillipe and myself both soon realised how rusty you get when you dont get out alot. We both had a chuckle at the crappy lines we took on some tracks. But Coffs being Coffs soon had us sorted and we sunk our teeth in and got into it.

Both saturday and Sunday served up some great tracks which all vehicles tackled with great commonsense. I thought everyone drove superbly as Coffs in the dry can bring you unstuck, let alone in the rain.

Great company as usual, Trav stayed awake at least untill 7.30. Maybe we should nick name him "Prime Possum or Big Dog " as they go to bed at 7.30.

Camp site was fantastic and as Gaz said close to the action. Big thanks to Gaz, Tim & his Dad. Santo was great in giving up his weekend ( and his Coffs driving tips). Couldn't have done it without them. Although I think we might have killed Tim's 200 TDI. Time for an Isuzu injection hey Tim.

For those who did not come you missed a great "scary at times " trip. At one point I had Torqit standing on it's back wheels in a more vertical position. I looked at Patrick, then at Santo and realised by the look on their faces it was a bit more vertical than I imagined. hence reverse was selected and we backed out of that one. The brown stuff was MUD coming from the back of us guys right, sorted dont talk about the war.

Thanks to all who attended and for the convoy company there and back.

Till the next trip

Justin

ps
It was a shame that Commando and Koala were so eroded as in the past years we have driven them. Honestly you would need a buggy with 40" plus tyres to drive them now. But that happens with steep country and big rainfall.

pps
How were the leaches. My legs are still oozing fluid from my multiple attachments. I,m just waiting for Sigorny Weaver to appear before the huge leach burst's out of my guts.

[DRanged]

It was gruesome

what the hell was i doing there funny tho

This is how it went down.


"Hey Kelvin how many times do I need to tell you Disco's are crap"









And Ended " hey hey ok their better than Jeeps. Boy someone needs a coffee

Justin

[disco_thrasher]

and this ones for the jeep driver

This is how it went down.

"Hey Kelvin how many times do I need to tell you Disco's are crap"









And Ended " hey hey ok their better than Jeeps. Boy someone needs a coffee

Justin

[CheekyD1]

Welcome back viewers to Part 3 of the Cheeky Report – Coffs 2010 Special edition
When we left the action our intrepid Rovers were back in camp discussing the day’s adventures.
What we were not to know was the adventure which lay ahead for some of our group.

First some background on this Wayne character, Wayne is to Jeeps what Outcast is to Rovers.
Wayne has a shed at Burleigh from which emerges some extreme Jeeps. You can see his work at Gallery
Wayne has recently Sold his J10
So Wayne needed a new project and naturally Coffs supplied the answer (lots of Jeeps around Coffs).
Wayne’s next job is to convert a J20 into a 6 wheel drive Tow Truck.
Having heard of our Coffs trip Wayne decided that This Weekend would be a good time to collect his “new” J20 before the very capable J10 left for its new owner and he would be short a tow vehicle. .

Wayne had been talking to our friend Shane Lowe, and Shane offered to put Wayne up for the night at his house.

I could smell trouble, and had already read Wayne the riot act a couple of times.
You see Wayne is about as one eyed Jeep as Trav is Range Rover.

Wayne had spoken about riding along with me for the day, but when Saturday Morning arrived Shane was to do a favor for an old girlfriend (I smell trouble right there) anyway Wayne was drafted in to assist.
I had called Wayne several times during the day, I thought he might join us at Coramba Pub for lunch and ride shotgun for the arvo.
Finally much after dark Wayne rings up, wanting to know what’s for dinner.
The slur in the voice gave away the fact that Shane, the old girl friend and Wayne might have had a few drinks. Maybe starting early in the day!

I had been expecting the dinner request, because when the Jeeps camp cooking tends to become a communal affair, everybody pitching something onto the table.

So I waited for Shane and Wayne to come down from the house, which is high above the campsite on the ridge.
Waiting, Waiting then I heard the sound of a 350 Chev. Then silence. Then more 350 Chev this time at many many revs.
It did not take the phone call from Wayne to work out what had gone on.
Shane in a Dutch Courage inspired piece of Navigation had suggested the Short Cut to the camp.
The Short Cut is basically a Black Dirt Track straight down through the rain forest. Very steep and with the weather very slippery..
Wayne though the whole thing was very funny and suggested that he just needed a little winch to pull the back of the truck onto the track.

Cheeky could not resist the opportunity to rescue a Jeep and raced up to help.
The hill was wet and steep, not as slippery as John’s Hill the day before, but it had a crust which once broken lost nearly all traction. At least there was enough grip to prevent any Reverse Bob Sleigh action.
Adventure turned to fars when Cheeky climbed around a corner but run out of forward progress.
She did not slip back, so I let her roll back about a car length and had another go. No forward progress was achieved.
I radioed Kelvin, who had followed, to stay down as I would back out.
Unfortunately for Cheeky the corner which she has bravely struggled up was on quite a side slope and as we tried to turn back her rear tyres could not be coaxed up and around the corner.
I hit the two way again requesting help, Kelvin and others soon arrived, we hooked Cheeky’s winch to a nearby tree and she was soon back on the track.
We tried to reverse on the winch but the back refused to play the game and slipped down again.
Wayne and Shane walked down and the decision to wait till morning to recover both vehicles was taken.
Finally sense had returned.
So Cheeky spent the night in the bush tied to her winch and an extension strap.



Day 3
Our plan was to go for a morning drive, but first there were a couple of trucks to recover.
First up was cheeky and a mega winch challenge


Next up was to correct Wayne’s parking problem.


Looking at the skid marks, it must have been a bit of a ride.

Lucky they did not make it to the steeper part of the track

A quick look at the track led to the decision that the Jeep needed to be U-Turned on the track and snatched up.
So Cheeky’s winch was used, through a snatch block and several trees and with a great team effort resulted in the Jeep pointing up hill







Keith was then called in to snatch the Jeep out to safety.
A big thank you to all involved.
Lesion learnt - Wheeling and Drink don’t match
I use the same standards for Wheeling that I use for flying, that is, 8 hours from bottle to throttle.

Back to camp, and off on a trip up to England’s Road and a look at Koala. Still a mad hill track.
Heading back to camp we had a go at the three step ups off England’s Road.
Packing up and we were off home in convoy after saying goodbye to Shane.

End of another great trip.
Cheers to all involved. Especially Sando, mate you are a legend if you got a Land Rover you would be unstoppable.

Gaz